Some of you here have reported a metal on metal sound when your car hits bumps just after a front end upgrade.

I too have had this experience so today I tore the front end down to find the culprit.

If you have used the Spohn upper strut mount # 951 and cant figure out the clunking noise it is caused by excessive clearance between the bearing and the retaining snap ring.

it needs .008 brass shim to fix.

Jeff

 

that bearing should be a press fit, the snap ring i not supposed to be holding the bearing in. If it is, its defective and should be replaced, either the bearing was undersized, or the strut plate was machined too large

 

Yep, too much clearance between the bearing and snap ring & lower housing. The bearing slides up & down within the housing causing a knocking sound when going over bumps.

I fixed the drivers side with a shim of between 18 and 20-thou (this is from memory).

The passenger side still needs to be done.

I also had to section the drivers side mount. This was so it cleared the stock master cylinder & booster. It actually hit it when still at positive camber.

RBob.

 

I couldn't tell you the thousands of dollars of brand new parts sitting on the shelves of my shop that have failed upon initial use or shortly thereafter due to poor design\engineering.

This is just another. March Performance still has everyone beat!

 

i have this problem right now.. just replaced centerlink and front struts. but is this only whit Spohn? becouse i bought cheap autozone (gabriel ultra struts)

 

it is not the struts it is the upper strut bearing retainer that is questionable.

 

Bringing this back from the dead, I am having the same problem and it's getting bad.

Bob, do you remember the diameter of the shims you used?

 

No I don't. It was a custom job with the shim being machined from bar stock.

RBob.

 

Well I managed to find something to measure them with (I have none of my tools at the moment) looks like they are 1 3/8 O.D. and the I.D. looks like its gonna have to be 1 1/8.

Unfortunately I cant seem to find anyone that carries shims in these sizes. McMaster-Carr's 1 3/8 od shims are all 7/8 i.d. which is too small.

I guess I'll have to keep looking.

By the way, have the shims been a permanent fix for your problem? I am concerned that it is just going to keep opening up the snap ring groove. Seems like a poor design imo.

 

Back from the dead. Pablo or jjlabinski, has the shim fixed the problem. If so, where did you get them from?